People Leery of Shopping Online

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People Leery of Shopping Online

Consumer confidence in the Internet fell in the latest quarter, with the number of people who are uneasy about online shopping up for the first time since tracking began a year ago, the latest Yahoo/ACNielsen Internet Confidence Index showed Tuesday.

Even as a separate study showed overall consumer confidence rose this month, the index compiled by Yahoo (YHOO) and market research company ACNielsen showed consumer confidence in the Internet fell four points during the first quarter. The companies said the drop reflected less confidence in fulfillment of online orders and increased concern over the security of credit card information.

The index showed the confidence level of 111 remained well above a baseline of 100 set in the year-ago first quarter, when the study began, the companies said. It also found that a growing number of people plan to shop online during the second quarter of this year.

However, they are projected to spend less than in the first quarter. Confidence declined among both men and women and among all age groups, except for the 25 to 34 age group, where confidence levels were unchanged from the fourth quarter of last year.

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GPS rival gets funded: European Union ministers approved funding Tuesday for a rival to the American GPS satellite navigation system, overcoming cost concerns and U.S. military objections that have delayed the launch for over a year.

Transport ministers released $392 million in development money, an EU official said on condition of anonymity. The European Space Agency has already committed $485 million.

Six countries – Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Sweden and Britain – had originally balked at Galileo's $3.24 billion total price tag. They also questioned the commercial viability of setting up a competitor to the freely available Global Positioning System, the de facto global standard.

Washington also lobbied against Galileo, calling it unnecessary. The Pentagon, which controls GPS, wrote in December that Galileo could interfere with next-generation GPS signals intended for military use.

But Germany signed on to the project shortly before an EU summit this month, citing the "considerable political, strategic and economic importance" of Europe having its own system.

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High-end chips: Two China-based chipmakers said on Tuesday they will kick-start high-end chip production by March next year, joining a rapidly growing field of domestic chipmakers graduating to more advanced semiconductor technology.

Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing told an industry conference it will start construction this month of a plant that will begin producing 8-inch wafers in March of next year.

Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing told the conference its long-awaited foundry will start volume production of 50,000 wafers a month next March. The components that comprise computer chips are laid onto these silicon wafers.

Most of China's chipmakers focus on low-end, 4- to 6-inch wafers, but many are eager to leapfrog to the 8-inch wafers, which allow cost savings because more chips can be fit on each wafer.

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Share buybacks may slow: AOL Time Warner may reduce the pace of its share buybacks to maintain its financial flexibility and investment capacity, the media giant said in a securities filing.

AOL (AOL) said it had spent about $3 billion buying back stock last year under a $5 billion buyback program authorized in January 2001, according to its annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In its annual report released on Monday, AOL also said it would take a $54 billion quarterly charge to reflect the steep decline in the value of its purchase of Time Warner due to new accounting rules on goodwill.

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Airlines team up: The new "Swiss" airline, replacing failed Swissair as flag carrier from March 31, said on Tuesday it chose American Airlines as its transatlantic partner and wants to join the Oneworld alliance.

Confirmation of a rumor that had swirled in aviation circles means the new Swiss airline is keeping the main partners of its stricken predecessor Swissair, while abandoning Swissair's Qualiflyer alliance project, which was a main cause of its financial collapse.

Swiss, built from former regional carrier Crossair, was widely expected to team up with American and join Oneworld, but industry sources said a number of regulatory obstacles remain to full Oneworld membership.

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Huge microchip plant: Japan's Ferrotec, Toshiba Ceramics and Mitsui (MITSY) said they will jointly invest $145 million in a China microchip plant that will become the country's largest.

After completion in 2004, the plant in Shanghai will have an annual output value of $211.4 million and be capable of making 8-inch wafers for integrated circuits and other uses, the three firms told a news conference.